Apparatus for oxidizing flour.



'110.895,405, n PATEN'r-Bn' Ua-1,1998;

QW.L.J01\ILS.v

I APPARATUS POR OXIDIZING PLOIIR.L Y urucnxox rum JAN. 3, nos.'

wiLLLui LEsr'n-JoN-Es, or srooK'ronoALiroRNra APPARATUS Fon. o rz'rNGrLoUrt.-

vNo. 895,405.

lTo all -uzom it may concern:

Be it known .that I, lViLLIAM LESTER JONES, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Stockton, in the county of San -Joaqiiin andState of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in 'Aparatus for Oxidizing Flour, of which the ibllowing is a speciication,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

'My invention relates to the art of artificially aging flour bysubjectin the saine to a gaseous oxidizing agent, and as for its objectto use a simpler, yet efficient, .'process, and also provide for suchpurpose a more simple apparatus, than 'heretofore used.-

The principle of such artificial aUing-.treat means employed .towardssuch end be as sim# .ple as possible. Since only Aa very small quantityof nascent oxygen,l is needed, electric sparking ,of a confined volumeofair has been employed; but such means are fraught with danger in asmill. I have discovered that I may' obtain nascent oxygen by the use of'a voltaic cell, the cathode and anode of which' are electricallyconnected; or, referabl by a plurality of units of such cells; thecathode and anode of each of which is electrically connected that is so.that each cell will constitute a unit by itselfI and in which theveltaic action is produced. by certain acids..

In the practice of my inventionl have found itcon'renient to employ acell commercially known as a Fuller cell, and consisting of an outer jarin which is suspended a slitted cylinder of carbon', aporouspotplacedwithf inthe latter, and abar of zinc inserted in the porouspot. I partially fill the central orf ous pot with a weak solution ofsul uric `acid-one pai-t of the acid to forty of water; -and tlie outerjar l )artially till with chemically pure nitric acid. 4These cells Iplace in a chamber through whiclil force a current of air into the flouragitator-chamber.

The cell chamberl have constructed as illustrated in the drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is .a longitudinal section of such lchamber, on aline :z:oflig. 2, and its appur- Speccaton .of Letters Patent. Application-feedJanuary 2, isos. Serin 116,294,236.

Patented Aug'. 4, 1908..

' tenances, 2 is a plan or'top view thereof, 'and Fig. 3 -is across-section on line /yJgof preceding figures, viewing the saine aspointed by the arrow z.

The chamber C is conveniently constructune sfrarasfrannr ormoni lj ed oflumber and com rises a bottom 1, sides 2, 8 and ends 4, 5.. 'alsoreferably make. the same of such size'tliatpl may divide` itlongitudinally by a removable partition .6, slidably heid by its ends invertical' grooves in the inner faces of theends 4, 5. By thisarrangement VI am enabled to treat two grades of lo'ur simultaneously,as will be fur-l ther explained below.`

The inlet-end has an opening 7 in which to inject a vcurrent 'of airfrom a rotary fan 8 operated by a belt and pulley 9. Such inlet 'end is'controllable by a slide 154 having a hole 16 so that the slide maybeadjusted to allow the full volumel of the iii-blown current of air toenter the chamber from the fan, or cut off a part there'ot`proportionatelyto the volume of nascent oxygen generate o enings fromwhich extend ducts 10, 11 to t .e flour agitator-chamber, that is ,-thecham-' ber in which the ground Hour is contained in an agitated' stateand exposed to the air impregnated with'nascent oxygen.

'lie outlet openings are controlled by vertically slidable doors 12, 13respectively. As already mentioned, the chamber C-is divided into twocompartments c c2, and ducts 10, 11 lead therefrom into two independentagitator-chambers (not shown) in which to simultaneously oxdize twogrades of Hour. By closing either of moving the artition 6 a chamber ofincreased size is obtained. Under such circumstances of course theair-current woul bedischarged through one outlet-duct only, and 'theother be closed bya door dropped in front thereof. Such arrangement is`conven by the voltaic cells., The 'outlet end. is made with two thedoors 12, 12S-andre.-

ient for treating a large quantity of tlour of a single grade..

The chamber ispro length of about 28 inc es, width 1'1 inches andljieight of 16 inches. '.Whens'o'pro ortioned the two compartmentsobtane by dividing the chamber lengthwise, as nientioi'iedfwilleach havea capacity for treating about 400 barrels per twenty four hbu'rs.

On the floor ofeachdiv'ision or compara' ment vof the cliainberis placeda pluralityv cellsl?, and the two terminals of each cell.

ortioiied tol have a u once every twenty four hours, to maintain i theefficiency of the cells; and therefore I prefer t-o arrange them asdisconnected units. To obtainv a ractically airtight t for the slides Iline t e same with cotton flannel or other Asuitable fabric. For thesame end, the top-edge ofthe Walls of the chamber C are faced with alike material., For the flange of vthe coverv to lie on. The chamber isprovided with a hinged cover 14, and therefore allows convenient accessto the Voltaic cells.

wWhile I have particularly mentioned a Fuller cell, ofcourse any cellmay be used capable of emitting, While inaction, a gase- 2e .havinginlet and outlet openings and means for blowing a current of -airthrough the chamber.A of a voltaic 4battery contained in said chamber,the terminals of the battery being short-circuited, said short-circuitedbattery generating gaseous compounds possessing bleaching pro erties.

In testimony w iereof, I have hereunto affixed/my signature in thepresence of two witnesses.

\-VILLIAl\I LESTER JONES.

Vitnesses:

T. J. GEISLER,

ALPHA A. TURNER.

